Casinos bring jobs, headaches to Eastern Connecticut

James Mosher

Sunday

Sep 25, 2011 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2011 at 6:59 PM

For nearly two decades, Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun have been the economic engines that drive Eastern Connecticut. But towns around the casinos deal with more traffic on their highways, hire additional police to handle increased crime, including embezzlements, and add school facilities to teach English to immigrant students whose parents have come to work at the casinos.

For nearly two decades, Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun have been the economic engines that drive Eastern Connecticut.

They’ve brought jobs and spinoff businesses and have increased the population in Norwich enough so that it surpassed Groton in the most recent Census as the most populated municipality in Eastern Connecticut.

But towns around the casinos deal with more traffic on their highways, hire additional police to handle increased crime, including embezzlements, and add school facilities to teach English to immigrant students whose parents have come to work at the casinos.

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Ledyard, Montville and North Stonington have complained for years that they should get a larger share of the Mashantucket Pequot-Mohegan Fund, the money the state distributes to its 169 towns from its 25 percent share of the casinos’ slot revenue, because they have to deal with the costs of being host communities to the gambling facilities.

According to Ledyard Mayor Fred Allyn Jr., the total value of land in Ledyard taken into trust before 1999 for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation was $126 million. In 2010, that represented 11.2 percent of the grand list. Tax revenue lost in 2010 because of it amounted to $2.3 million, he said.

Top taxpayers

At the same time, the Mashantucket Pequots are Ledyard’s top taxpayer.

The town’s non-reservation properties contributed $36.7 million to the town’s most recent grand list. According to Ledyard tax records, the tribe paid slightly more than $1 million in taxes in 2009 and 2010.

The Mashantuckets also are the top taxpayers in North Stonington and Preston and the fifth-largest taxpayer in Norwich. The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, the parent entity of Mohegan Sun, is the top taxpayer in Montville, paying $2.1 million in taxes to Montville in 2010, town records show.

But having the casinos as neighbors has increased expenses to the towns, Allyn said. In 1992, the year Foxwoods opened, responses by police increased fourfold. Travel on Ledyard’s winding rural roads has increased and gets heavier on weekends. Many of the drivers are casino employees, police Lt. Michael Finkelstein said.

“There’s more traffic, more traffic enforcement, more accidents and more people trying to navigate the back roads,” he said.

The same is true in Norwich, Stonington and Montville.

The growth of Mohegan Sun has a trickle-down effect on the area, Montville Town Police Lt. Leonard Bunnell said.

“State police deal with issues that pertain directly to the tribe and casino,” he said. “We’ve gotten the overflow.”

Norwich has become a 24-hour society because of its proximity to the casinos and the large number of casino workers who live in the city. Crime has increased along with that.

Traffic is the major issue in Preston, where its main arteries — routes 165, 2 and 2A — lead to and between the casinos.

When Foxwoods opened, car accidents increased dramatically, First Selectman Robert Congdon said. Before the casino was built, the town averaged about 200 accidents per year. In 1993, a year after Foxwoods opened, the number had jumped to 1,000 annually, he said.

Around-the-clock car and bus travel on Route 2A is “the source of one of the primary negative impacts on the town,” Congdon said.

This has reduced the property values in Poquetanuck village on Route 2A, where Congdon grew up.

“All the single-family homes in Poquetanuck are for sale or are being rented,” he said. “The constant noise of the tour buses ... reduced the quality of life.”

The heavy casino bus traffic is prompting some residents to put their houses up for sale. Few prospective buyers have emerged.

“I can’t see anyone wanting to raise children here with all the traffic,” homeowner Carol Matusmoto said.